


Sins of the Father

by fleurjaune



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (though Adrien's feelings about it are complicated), Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Angst and Feels, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Issues, Fluff and Angst, Forgiveness, Future Fic, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Racism, Married Couple, Mentioned Gabriel Agreste, POV Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Parenthood, Post-Canon, Post-Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Identity Reveal, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Pregnancy, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:43:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29882700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurjaune/pseuds/fleurjaune
Summary: Adrien struggles with his fear of failing as a father and about his complicated relationship with his own father while Marinette tries to reassure him.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 10
Kudos: 54





	Sins of the Father

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for any French people in advance b/c I considered further researching your legal system & then decided it bent to the whims of what I thought how most emotional impact ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Marinette finds her husband sat on the floor in their soon-to-be nursery staring at a photo of the sonogram.

“Adrien?”

“Sorry,” he says looking up to her, “I’ll come to bed soon.”

She carefully sits down next to him, and much as she’s so excited and also terrified to meet her baby she can’t help but think she’ll be glad to get her body back without this constant care she’s having to take working around it.

“You don’t have to put a mask on for me. We’re past that.”

“We’re past that.” Adrien agrees but their usual in-half-joke-half-mantra doesn’t sound the same this time from him.

Her concern only mounts at that. “What’s wrong?”

He breathes out through his nose. “My father’s lawyers got his sentence commuted to house arrest on this appeal.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah exactly.” His mouth twisted, “apparently they agreed he was no threat to society without his Miraculous, and you know prison hasn’t been great for him with his profile.”

“I’d thought things were going better for him there now,” she might not have cared what happened to Gabriel Agreste but _Adrien_ did and for his sake she’d been glad there seemed to be less incidents involving his father in prison now.

”Yeah, he'd found ways to make it work, but I guess I can’t _blame_ him for preferring to be in his own home. It’s just, I don't know, I wish it didn't have to be now.”

Marinette looks at the sonogram picture in Adrien’s hands, “Our baby never has to meet him if that’s what you want.”

“He's the baby’s _grandfather._ ”

Only. “Biologically. You have every right to cut him off if you want. It’s not like he ever earned the title of being father to _you._ I never saw _my_ dad’s father for until after I’d met you and it didn’t do me any harm.”

Sometimes now she wondered how she’d been so forgiving of her grandfather back then. Especially as now she couldn’t help but feel like the bread had only been a symbol of her grandfather’s _actual_ issue with his father’s choices. An _untraditional_ granddaughter.

Despite that she was glad she’d gotten the chance to know him before his death and that he _had_ gotten over it but now she was about to have a child of her own she couldn’t fathom cutting them off for how they cooked or who they married, and she couldn’t help but be angry on her father and mother’s behalves.

Adrien didn’t seem to disagree as he gave a nod, and said, “And I’d be delighted if our child turned out anything as brilliant as you,” but then he swallowed and added, “but what if I don’t?”

Marinette frowned, “What?”

He put down the sonogram on the floor and said, “What if I _don’t_ want him to never see his grandchild? He’s excited about the baby you know. He asks if you’re doing alright all the time. He’s very keen on Emma as a name if it’s a girl.”

The baby shifted inside her at that, and Marinette winced, “Oh why did you have to tell me _that?_ I feel weird enough about it being a name I picked out for my fantasy of a future with you when I was a teenager, having it approved by _your dad,_ makes it weirder.”

Adrien smiled, “But you still like the name don’t you?”

“I do still like the name.” She’d been embarrassed when Adrien had suggested it unprompted by her, and she’d realised that actually she really did like still like the name she’d picked out all those years ago. “It could still be a boy though, so Emma might have to wait a few years if we still like it then.”

She’d wanted to not know the gender. To avoid preconceptions about the little person growing inside her, and they’d decide on the name when they saw the baby. Hopefully then they’d recognise what’s right.

From Adrien’s almost laugh he agreed, “Yeah I don’t think we could call a boy Emma. And I can’t even think what the male version of that would be,”

She grimaced as the mood was punctured, “Émile?”

Her husband mimicked her, “Yeah, _no._ That’s,”

“Too close. I know.”

He sighed. “Would it bother you if I brought the baby to visit him?”

Marinette tried to read his face and see what he wanted, “Me? It’s your decision.”

“He hurt you too. It could have gone _a lot_ worse than it did. If you don’t want our child anywhere near him then that’s _your_ right.”

“I think what I resent him for most is for what he did to _you._ Hawk Moth, I don’t know that I’ve forgiven him for that exactly, but I understand why he did it even if it was wrong, and I’m not angry about it any more. I’m not pretending it was all fun and games, and honestly nowadays I’m kind of horrified Master Fu gave our Miraculous to two children, but I don’t regret being Ladybug. I don’t think he’s any _danger_ to our child, and I know your visits to him in prison have helped you, so if you think knowing their supervillain grandfather is the best thing for the baby then OK. But if he says _one_ dismissive thing to them then he’s out.”

“That’s fair.” Adrien let his head fall back against the wall, “And I don’t think he _will._ I’ve been reading about it online and talking to people and it seems like most strict controlling parents seem to be the opposite with their grandchildren. Kind of not sure how I’m going to feel if that is the case.”

“You’ll forgive him for it, because you always do. I can’t imagine being as forgiving as you are.”

“I’m not sure that’s it,” Adrien disagreed, “But anyway he knows if he wants to have any relationship with our child then he’ll have to be on his best behaviour. He knows I could cut him off. I didn’t see him for years after we found out.”

“You were in London,” Marinette pointed out. “It’s not as if he was just down the road.”

“It’s not exactly the other side of the world. The Startrain exists you know.”

“I was _so_ angry at your Aunt taking custody of you back then you know? But I think maybe it was a good thing now.” 

Honestly she was glad she’d been dating Luka at that point too. She cringed at how easily she might have fooled herself that what Adrien, devastated by the truth of his family, and freshly grieving his memories of both his parents, needed was a romantic relationship with her, instead of having time to heal before he made any decisions about dating anyone.

“Yeah,” Adrien said, “the distance did help. And not being confronted by reminders of it everywhere.”

Marinette looked over her husband, and thought about how easily they could have drifted apart, or never reconnected. “I’m glad you stayed in touch though, and _that_ you looked me up when you came back to Paris for uni.”

She didn’t want to imagine a life without Adrien. She could have been happy without him it’s true but she didn’t think she could be happier than she was with him.

Adrien smiled weakly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m glad you still trusted me. That you _did_ confess your identity to me.”

That was easy, because, “You’re not your father. I always knew _that_ about you even if I was slightly deluded by other things.”

“Really?” He preened and some amusement did finally light up his eyes, “What ideas did you have about Adrien Agreste then?”

She playfully swatted his shoulder, “Stop looking for compliments. You know I thought you were perfect. Discovering you were Chat and could be silly and joked around, and made a fool of yourself in front of the person you liked too, that made you much more of a real person to me.”

Adrien looked more serious again, and she just wanted to smooth out that stressed crease in his forehead, “And you never worried about me? After finding out who my father was you never thought about what could have happened if _you’d_ been the one hurt sometime? About what I might have done?”

 _Chat Blanc._ That lonely dangerous boy hovered in front of her eyes for a second but she shook her head to clear it because the man in front of her was the one who needed her right now, and that future was well and truly gone now. “Is that what this is about? You’re worried about being your father?”

“It’s stupid. This house arrest. It should be a good thing. It should make it easier if I want to bring the baby to visit. I won’t have to bring our baby into a prison but.” He shrugged apparently unable to find the right words.

Marinette offered then for him, “It’s dredging everything up?”

“Yeah.”

Her heart went out to him. She just wanted to wrap her arms around him and keep him safe from the rest of the world but that wasn’t enough she knew. “Have you talked to your therapist about it?”

He looked down at the floor. “Some of it. I mean I guess it was inevitable with the baby. But the confirmation about the appeal only came today.”

“Ah.”

Adrien gestured wildly obviously panicking, “What if I’m not a good parent? What if I don’t have the right genes for that? My father’s the obvious one but, I don’t know when I was young I thought my mother was perfect, but she had her secrets too, and she _chose_ to keep using that Miraculous over staying with us. How can I know how to be a good parent when I don’t know what one looks like? I mean Aunt Amelie, she was _nice_ when I stayed with her, but I mean you’ve meet Felix—I wouldn’t exactly say _his_ upbringing was stellar.”

“In fairness I got the impression that a lot of _that_ was his education, I mean some of the stories you told me, _wow._ ” Marinette trailed off unsure _how_ to describe some of them. The university dining club one was probably the worst in terms of sheer disgustingness but it had probably been the bullying when he was younger that had done the damage. She was _so_ glad Adrien had been sent to a French school in London instead of off to his cousins.

“Yeah. Never thought I’d be glad for the homeschooling but honestly going to a school like his ones would probably have been worse. Still, it’s not like my Aunt or my Uncle pulled him out of them.”

“He sounds like he’s ok now though, and your uncle went to them too didn’t he? Maybe they don’t realise that’s not normal.”

“He’s doing fine now. Or he thinks he is. He’s been offered a seat to contest in this election you know? Not that he’ll get it-it’s pretty much impossible for his party to win but he says if he puts on a good show he’ll have a chance of a safe seat next time.”

“Honestly the idea of Felix in government is terrifying.”

“True, but I don’t know that’s he’s any worse than the current lot.”

Despite the fact she did sort of get on, or at least have a cautious mutual respect for his cousin these days she couldn’t help but say, “that might be your family loyalty speaking.”

Adrien stared into the middle-distance for a while, and just as Marinette felt she needed to say something in case he was spiralling, he said, “Do you think that’ll be enough? That _I_ know none of my childhood was normal, and that it was bad and that I don’t want to repeat any of it?”

“I can’t promise we’ll be perfect. We’ll probably screw things up-by the way my mother was warning me, apparently baby’s _will_ roll off changing tables the moment you look away to grab the wipes,”

He blinked. “Well that’s terrifying.”

“But we’re _not_ going to screw our kids up.” She said determined, and it was a promise as much to herself as to him, “You know what not to do, and you _know_ you want to do better. And you’re committed to it. And you’ve _me,_ and my parents, and our friends. You’re not in this alone.”

“But what if I don’t have you? What if history repeats itself and I lose you? What if I can’t cope without you, any better than he did around your mother?”

“I think you’re spiralling a bit there. I haven’t even _had_ the baby. And my Miraculous isn’t broken.”

Adrien’s hands clutched at his jean, in a familiar motion of panic, “People die all the time.”

She’d kill that Kwami. “Has Plagg been telling you morbid stories again?” 

“That’s not the point”

She took her husband’s hand, “I trust you. You’re so very different to your father,”

“I don’t know that I am,” His eyes looked directly into her, and she had to work not to be drawn in, “I don’t know that I wouldn’t do anything for you.”

“Maybe you would.” She agreed. “But we have _friends,_ we have people who would support you and keep you from doing anything stupid. I know you wouldn’t wall yourself off from the world, you’d have support and your father only had,”

He interrupted her. “Nathalie?”

“Who was his literal subordinate he paid to make his life easier,” Adrien opened his mouth to say something and she held up her free hand to stop him, “I’m not saying she didn’t _care,_ it was pretty damn clear she did at the end, but that’s a very different dynamic.” An unhealthy one, but he didn’t need her to point that out after everything that happened, “ _You_ have friends who aren’t reliant on you employing them who’ll stand up to you.”

“He didn’t do all that stuff to her you know. All the threats and the blackmail they claimed happened in court. That was him trying to get her a lighter sentence because he felt guilty.”

“I know,” she reminded him, “You told me. Trust me, I wouldn’t be considering letting him near the baby if he had.”

That piece of their initial trial had solidified her then hatred of Gabriel Agreste. She’d understood Adrien’s decision to go talk to his father to get answers better after he’d admitted Nathalie had confessed to him it was all lies. Though how exactly his father had got Nathalie to go along with it when she was still unhappy about it years later was something neither of the older people had yet admitted.

“I’m glad she told me,” Adrien said, “I don’t think he _ever_ would have admitted it. He’s just,” he made an incoherent noise, “the annoying thing is that I think he genuinely thinks he’s doing the right thing when he makes these stupid decisions. Like yeah, he knows he made mistakes _now,_ and he honestly does regret parts of it, but at the time? No.”

As far as Marinette could tell from what Adrien had told her and her own brief conversations with the man he mainly regretted what he’d done to _Adrien,_ and after that about involving _Nathalie._ The rest of Paris seemed below his attention.

Adrien continued, “Sometimes I think that he thinks that if he went back in time he could fix it all by just telling me he was Hawk Moth instead of shutting me out, as if that was the only problem.”

“I know talking to him has done you good but maybe you shouldn’t expect too much of him.”

In the kindest possible way she doesn’t think Adrien’s father is _capable_ of being a good person. She can believe he can try attempting it for the sake of his relationship with Adrien though.

“No,” Adrien sighed, “I probably shouldn’t. I think the medication’s helping him though. It’s funny I found an article from years ago about him and the brand and it’s all there, the fixations, the inability to accept defeat, the disinterest in everything else and it’s treated like a _good thing._ And then suddenly it turns out he’s a supervillain and they’re not the quirks of an eccentric genius but something he actually needs medical help with.”

That _was_ the press. Marinette had got much less fond of them since Hawk Moth’s defeat and with how they’d treated Adrien.

This wasn’t the time for venting about that though. Her husband needed her.

“Well there you go. You’re a step ahead of him already. You’re not too proud to seek help.”

“That’s true. Though I don’t think he realised he had a problem.” He squeezed her hand, “It would have been easier if it all _had_ been about world domination, if he’d _never_ loved me. But he did. I know none of you believe me but we _did_ have good times as a family when I was little.”

“I don’t disbelieve you,” Marinette said carefully, “I believe you were happy, I believe _he_ was better or more normal or both, I just think your parents were already making mistakes.”

“They were. Some of it makes more sense to me now, after what the press was like after my father’s identity came up, I _get_ why they thought they were protecting me, and with all the music and the sports, and the languages I know they really both did want the best for me. They just had baggage of their own as well. My father, _his_ father, well not great is an understatement.”

Marinette shifted so her whole body was facing him, “You’ve never mentioned him before.”

“He died before I was born. Probably a good thing really. He um, he was an alcoholic, and I mean to be fair to my father at least _he_ only hit me when he didn’t know who I was.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“And I think my father really _did_ think he was doing better than that. He just tried to show he cared by shoving loads of the money into my name so I was comfortably set up when he got unmasked as Hawk Moth instead of, you know, actually spending time with me.”

Adrien had, Marinette knew, always been conflicted about that money, and using it. She herself had far less qualms. His father’s infamy had thrown enough obstacles in their path, she was happy enough to let his money smooth over some of it.

And besides with this new information about their family, “Maybe he _was_ doing better. He just didn’t know how to do better than he was. But you know better than him, and you’re willing to listen and learn.”

“You don’t think _I_ might have some sort of addictive personality too? I mean, Alcohol, akumas, what else begins with A?”

“The only thing _you_ might be addicted to are puns.”

That finally seemed to pierce through Adrien’s anxiety and he smirked, “You love them though.”

Marinette doesn’t quite manage to supress a smile at his antics, “I endure them.”

“You love them.” He attempted to correct her.

She performativity rolled her eyes enjoying the break from the heaviness, “whatever we name the baby it is _not_ going to be a pun.”

“Bold words from Madame _Dupain_ -Cheng.”

“ _I_ don’t work in a bakery. So it’s not a pun Monsieur Dupain-Cheng.”

“Hmm,” he tilted his head in consideration.

“Don’t you even _dare_ start thinking up bread puns. And tell your father the same goes for him too.”

“I don’t think he’d come up with puns for the baby’s name, he knows that’s too serious.”

“Your parents’ gave you five names all beginning with the same letter as your surname. His naming skills are suspect, Adrien Alexander Anselm Augustin Athanase.”

Maybe Emma _was_ a bad choice if his father liked it.

“Hey, no one pays attention to middle names. And Adrien is a completely normal name, you’re the one with the old,” at her raised eyebrows Adrien let go of her hand to hold his up in defence, “fashioned, but very very pretty name. And I like it being unique. It suits you because you’re something uncommonly amazing too.”

His ridiculousness shouldn’t be enjoyable, “You’re a charmer Adrien.”

He leant in and kissed the tip of her nose. “Only for you.”

“I know. And do you know what else I know?”

“What?”

“You’re going to be a great dad.” She took both his hands in hers, “Look at how much you’re worrying about it. And you’re great with kids, and you know exactly what you have to avoid. _And,_ if I ever think otherwise you can believe I’ll make sure you know.”

“Thanks,” He said, and she thought he believed her despite the sadness in his smile, “Come on Marinette. Let’s go to bed. And you know, one thing _I_ know is that you’re going to be a great mum.”


End file.
